First and foremost, ef is a story about people. While it might be called a fairy tale of the two, the first tale has about half a dozen characters, all of which are too important to consider not the main characters. So without further ado, lets get familiar with the cast!

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Yuuko Amamiya, a quirky and playful woman who is often seen casually walking the streets of Otowa, appearing and disappearing on a whim. Yuuko is always eager to engage in a conversation and will often dispense words of wisdom between her lighthearted jabs. She’s a good listener when it comes to people’s woes but won’t hesitate to say what needs to be said. Her attire and demeanor suggest she might be a nun, but she insists she is just a passerby.

When not walking around town, Yuuko can be found in the church where she insists she is waiting for someone.

Yuuko is voiced by Yamada Yuna, who also plays the role of Erica in eden* as well as Mizukoshi Mako in Kotori Love EXP.

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Yuu Himura, a man of few words who meets Yuuko in the church. He seems to be the one she has been waiting for, but she admits that she might have forgotten.

Yuu is voiced by Mibuno Chuujou who also voices Inaba Naoto in eden*, and Kuhonbutsu Taishi in Comic Party, as well Hyuuga Neji in Naruto.

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Hiro Hirono, an irresponsible young man who’s made a habit of sleeping in class on the rare occasion he even makes it to class. Trouble with his finances, trouble with his love life, trouble with just about every last thing imaginable, but he is living on his own, so that accounts for something, right?

In truth, Hiro leads a double-life. On the surface he is the hopelessly tactless student that’s barely scraping by, underneath he is Nagi Shindou, the prodigal shoujo manga artist who has taken the industry by storm. His monthly serial barely pays enough for him to live in a luxurious studio apartment that he can only afford because the landlord is willing to cut him a break. Instant ramen is his dish of choice, but mostly because he’s too poor and lacks the time to make anything else. Life is hell, but he’s doing what he wants and even if his grades are the lowest in the class, he doesn’t care since the next deadline might as well be right around the corner.

Hiro often likes to listen to Kuze Shuuichi’s albums as he works on his manga.

Hiro is voiced by Komitsu Satsuki, who also plays the role of Haneda Takeshi in Oretachi ni Tsubasa ha Nai, Katsuragi Keima in The World God Only Knows, and Takuya Irei in Mobile Suit Gundam UC.

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A free spirit is the best way to describe Miyako Miyamura. She’s the top of her class, cutest girl in school, quite athletic, cheerful disposition, and would be the most popular girl in school, except that she rarely stays the whole day. Miyako is constantly searching for something. Something to fill a void left in her heart. She doesn’t want to be tied down to anything, let alone a long and boring day at school. She seems to already be well acquainted with Yuuko, but that’s probably because they both spend the day idling around town.

Miyako is a person who works at her own pace, and more often than not, it’s a lot faster pace than those around her.

Miyako is voiced by Akazawa Kaede, who also plays the role of Kagami Sumika in MuvLuv, Kasugano Sora in Yosuga no Sora, and Yuuki Haruna in Fortune Arterial.

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Tsutsumi Kyousuke, the resident womanizing man-whore and probably the closest thing to a friend that Hiro has. A generally good-natured person although he tends to change girlfriends about as often as a car changes its oil. He was a member of the video club, but due to creative differences, he was kindly ushered out; coincidentally, by his ex.

While Tsutsumi might seem a little superficial around the edges, he is really just a dedicated film geek, constantly in search of the perfect shot. He goes about his days with a camera in hand, waiting for the perfect moment. All the girls he’s dated in the past, were all just excuses to find an actress for his camera. Sleeping with them was just a perk.

Tsutsumi is well acquainted with Miyako who treats him more as a slave than a friend. That’s not to say they don’t have heart to heart talks, it just usually ends with a smiling Miyako and Tsutsumi hunched over in pain.

Tsutsumi is voiced by Shiroki Shou, who also plays the role of Seto Kazuya in Ashita no Kimi to Au tame ni, Hyousei in Hero Tales, and Katsuta Takeo in Hyouka.

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Kei Shindou, coincidentally, the same ‘Shindou’ in Hiro’s pen name and a long-time childhood friend his. Kei is one of the few people who are aware of Hiro’s job and doesn’t really approve of his constant skipping, but is willing to give it a pass since she really likes his manga. Kei is the star freshman of the basketball team, but utterly fails at all things academic. She looks down upon people like Miyako who don’t take school seriously, while still able to score as high as they do.

While usually modest in her demeanor, Kei tends to be somewhat reckless when it comes to matters outside of basketball. She’s quick to temper and usually gets rather rude and crude when worked up. Tsutsumi has recently taken an interest in Kei and hope she would be his newest actress, much to Kei’s annoyance.

Kei is voiced by Sakurai Misuzu, who also plays Fujimiya Nozomi in Wind ~a Breath of Heart~.

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So now that you’ve met the characters, who’s story looks the most appealing? One week left before the game is out, so get your pre-orders in now!

I have only read Miyako’s and Yuuko’s route when NNL first released it and those happen to be the 2 story lines that appealed to me. Guess I’ll motivate myself and find out what happens to Kei since the anime seems to have left that out.

Push for eden* NNL! You let me taste too much with that April Fools release of yours and now I want more.